Rainbow Six Siege just revamped all of its versions, now cheaper than ever

Ubisoft takes three steps forward and one step back with its updated versions of Siege.

In the lead up to Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 4 kickoff later this week, Ubisoft has announced much needed housekeeping for the game’s many versions. This new consolidation lowers the average price of the game and eliminates the version we all tell our friends not to buy—the Starter Edition.

It goes like this:

The Standard Edition of Siege that comes with the 20 base operators (sort of, more on that below) now has a permanent price reduction down to $20.

The Deluxe Edition adds on the eight Year 1 operators for $30 total (cheaper than buying the operators separately).

The Gold Edition ($60) is basically a Deluxe edition that also includes the Year 4 pass that unlocks the newest operators as they release.

The Ultimate Edition ($100) comes with all 44 operators in the game as well as the Year 4 pass.

Ubi is also dropping the prices of DLC operators as they get older by implementing a price scaling system. The details will be revealed later this week at the Six Invitational. This is a much better setup than what we had a year ago, but there’s one significant regression that makes little sense to me.

Last year, Ubi made Siege's 20 base operators free for owners of all versions except the Starter Edition. This was a great way to pick up the game and instantly have a comfortable pool of characters to pick from. The new versions walk this back across the board and reintroduce the renown cost for new ops Siege had at its launch in 2015.

Now each new operator will either cost 500, 1,000, 1,500, or 2,000 renown depending on how many you’ve already unlocked. This isn’t a huge amount of in-game currency. Earning enough renown for a new character will take anywhere from four to 10 matches. That said, it’s odd to see Ubi renege on a decision that made everyone happy. When something used to be free, it’s hard to justify suddenly slapping a price on it again. The one bright spot here is that Starter Edition owners will be grandfathered in to this cheaper unlock system.

Siege's editions are still complicated and confusing, but this is a fairer set of prices for a three-year-old game. It’s especially nice to see the terribly valued Starter Edition out of circulation and give owners a better path towards unlocking the roster.The main takeaway is that if you’re looking to pick up Siege, the basic $20 version is a good start. I see no reason to pick up the more expensive versions before knowing that you like the game. The overall price is the same if you decide to buy a season pass or DLC operators later.

To coincide with the game’s free weekend, Ubi has dropped a hefty sale on everything Siege. So if you do want to dip your toes in one of the premium versions that has eight more operators at the start, the Deluxe Edition is only $12.

Morgan is an FPS specialist who spends way too much time trying to get his friends into Rainbow Six Siege. He also loves weird stealth games, immersive sims, and having new memes explained to him by his partner.